1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image capture apparatuses, and particularly relates to image capture apparatuses that prevent failed images from occurring when capturing images at slow shutter speeds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thus far, there have been image capturing methods referred to as “slow shutter speed” capturing, in which night scenes are captured, moving objects such as shooting stars, people, or the like are captured so as to have image lag, and so on, by setting a slow shutter speed and carrying out a long exposure. With slow shutter speed capturing, the exposure time is long, and therefore there have been cases where a failed image occurs due to overexposure or blur caused by wind or the like at the end of the exposure; this is problematic in that it is troublesome to capture the image once again. Furthermore, when capturing a moving object as mentioned earlier, there are cases where a failed image results due to the subject being captured in a position not intended by the photographer; this is problematic in that it is difficult to capture the same image again.
Accordingly, techniques that prevent failed images from occurring during slow shutter speed capturing by creating a predictive image following the slow shutter speed capturing and displaying that predictive image in a display device such as a liquid crystal screen have been disclosed, such as, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-121222 (referred to as “Patent Document 1” hereinafter). Meanwhile, Japanese Patent No. 3864407 (Patent Document 2), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-319252 (Patent Document 3), and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-166252 (Patent Document 4) disclose capturing techniques that employ divided exposure.
However, with the conventional technique disclosed in the aforementioned Patent Document 1, blur occurring at the end of exposure due to wind or the like, the movement of the subject when capturing a moving object, and so on are not predicted. In addition, if the image is viewed after capturing and it is determined that the exposure has failed, it is necessary to recapture the image. Meanwhile, with the conventional techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 2, 3, and 4, if the user carries out divided exposure during slow shutter speed capturing, and sequentially releases the shutter while confirming the pre-composition images, a long time lag will occur between the individual divided exposures. For this reason, there has been a problem in that it is difficult to continuously capture the movement of the subject when capturing a moving object. Furthermore, if the camera automatically carries out divided exposure and composes the individual images in order to eliminate the time lag between divided exposures, the individual pre-composition images will be lost after the composition is complete. There is thus a problem in that only the final composite image is recorded in a recording medium such as an SD card, a CF card, or the like, and thus the individual pre-composition images cannot be displayed, used, or the like after the capturing is complete.